Do the Socceroos put this down as a learning experience, something that will pay off over time, like a university degree (well, other than an Arts degree, of course)? Not now they won't. They'll be gutted they let that slip after leading 2-1. But poor defending allowed the Dutch to get ahead. Not that the Dutch will be pleased with their defending. It was that kind of game, but it made for an exciting contest.

79 min: After Leckie goes over in the box, causing the green and gold supporters to scream for a penalty, De Guzman is substituted, Wijnaldum coming on. It was never a penalty but to be fair, Leckie didn't seem to call for one. He would have taken one, mind.

74 min: A Dutch free kick gets through the wall but it's hit straight at Ryan. Soon after, however, Van Persie cuts the ball back from the byline and finds Vlaar in space. Vlaar hits it nicely but Ryan makes a great save to his right.

71 min: The momentum has really changed now and the Dutch are pushing forward for the killer blow.

Back to that blown chance to Australia moments before the Dutch third goal. Oar exploded into space and, really, should have taken the opportunity to shoot. He only had the keeper to beat. But he decided on a cross but it was neither one thing or another and Leckie tried to chest it in from the edge of the six-yard box. Cillessen wasn't troubled.

Goal! Holland 3-2 Australia (Depay 68)

From nothing, the Dutch go ahead! Depay picks up the ball outside the Australia box and he figures 'Why not have a crack?' Why not indeed. He hits the ball with the outside of the right boot causing it to swerve away from Ryan and into bottom right corner. Ryan could have done better there.

62 min: Janmaart takes Oar's legs from him but he retrieves them to curl in a freekick towards the gold shirts lining up along the edge of the Dutch penalty area. But a Dutch head gets there first to clear.

59 min: Robben it was on the left who started the move. He then squared the ball to Depay before his measured through rolled down the central corridor to Van Persie. He swivelled nicely, and thumped past Ryan.

56 min: This is stunning stuff. And another raid by Australia forces the Dutch to head out for a corner. Bozanic wins the ball on the right, finds Cahill inside him in space, and he holds the ball up long enough for McKay to overlap on the left. Cahill overhits it, in truth, but McKay hauls it in and gets a cross in.

Peep!

Australia kick off and it's like an under-10s kick-off routine that almost catches the Dutch out! Cahill knocks it forward for Bresciano who hits a first time ball to Leckie. His pass almost falls to Cahill in the Dutch box.

Van Gaal promised "a different Holland" for this game. He was true to his word. They've been outplayed and out-enthused. If they've taken the Socceroos lightly —and surely they have— perhaps halftime will give them time to reassess the threat and react accordingly.

Kara Gone: "The world cup lull is over, right? Respect to the ozzies, I didn't expect this. Which makes me wonder if the Dutch (my people btw) will succumb to the bickering and discontent of their recent Euro outing on the first sign of trouble. Or if the Van Persie/Van Gaal BFF and the getting rid of a couple of the old dogs remedied that."

An optimistic Thomas Barbour: "Paul, I doubt we’ll need Cahill to knock over Spain, and having him fresh for the quarters could prove handy."

Martin Sutcliffe: "Great game so far. But there is nothing more hideous than the sound of 'Strayan football supporters, of whom the men sound like a giant ensemble version of Monty Python's 'Bruces' sketch and the women sound like vuvuzuelas. I pity the pitchside mic operators..."

Justin McCarthy: "I reckon Australia are actually a halfway decent side. The Socceroos definitely felt some nerves towards the beginning of the Chile match but they settled down nicely. Honduras aside, there really aren't any rabbits in this edition of the World Cup."

Rudy Hulsman: "Well done Cahill: - one wonder goal, - one player injured (second attempt), - one yellow card so you can't do the above to Spain. A Fuming Dutchie."

Half-time

And 45 minutes have flown by. What a cracking, spirited performance by Australia, topped by the best goal of the tournament so far. It was reminiscent of the goal Van Persie scored against Aston Villa last year. Yes, it was that good:

43 min: Terrible news for Australia (and for Martins Indi). Cahill makes a needlessly agricultural tackle on Martins Indi, running through him about five minutes after the Dutchman laid it off. It's a yellow for Cahill and that means he'll miss the Socceroos' match against Spain next week. Martins Indi was on one leg at the time and he's down being treated for the second time today. In fact, he's been strapped to a stretcher and is being carried off.

38 min: Now it's Oar terrorising the Netherlands! Davidson and Oar combine wonderfully on the left with a one-two and Oar almost gets clear in the Dutch box, which is an unfortunate combination of words, but what can you do?

37 min: Zubin Mistry likes what he sees. "That was the most breathtaking, jaw-droppingly surprising moment of the World Cup so far. I'm referring, of course, to Robben staying on his feet in the build-up to his goal. That amazing Van Persie impersonation by Cahill a close second."

33 min: Another chance to Australia! From a midfield freekick, Oar drops the ball on the penalty spot and the only player there to welcome it is Spiranovic! He almost had time to take a touch and shoot, but he swung his hips with the ball attempting a first time shot, and in doing so only managed to scuff it. Cillessen saved easily before, presumably, tearing strips off his defenders.

31 min: Bresciano is doing well and as I write he skies a side foot shot just over the bar after Leckie, again, causes havoc down the right! Bresciano is like a tube of toothpaste you never throw away because you can always squeeze out a little more. Leckie, meantime, has surely added a zero or two to his next contract.

28 min: The Dutch appeal for handball after a surgical through ball from Robben finds an overlapping Blind in the Australia box. I expected him to shoot from the angle but he attempted a square ball that struck Spiranovic on the chest.

26 min: This really is an open game and no sooner do the Dutch push forward than Australia win it back and look to their wings. And here's Leckie again using his pace to isolate Vlaar. But this time he's brought to heel.

24 min: That really was an incredible goal, and one you don't quite expect Cahill to score. The cross came it behind him so the timing to let it come across him was really something. As for the strike, well, pick that one out!

Goal! Australia 1-1 Holland (Cahill 21)

Oh my word! What a goal! Virtually from the kickoff Bresciano, in centrefield, shuttles the ball to Leckie on the right. He crosses towards Cahill but it comes in low, not high, and Cahill fires a left-foot volley into the goal from the underside of the bar! Goal of the tournament so far. The stadium is rocking!

Australia's Tim Cahill rifles home a stunning strike to make it 1-1. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

17 min: Cahill is the target but they are all over him like charity touts on a busy high street, and the ball is cleared. Down the other end, a foul by Australia gives Robben a free kick from wide on the right, but a glancing header is scooped up gratefully by Ryan.

16 min: A chance for Australia! De Guzman, I think, loses it on the right, and the ball is shipped out to Leckie on Australia's right. He's got some space to work with and he knocks it past Vlaar and eats up some metres before he finds Bresciano with a square ball. Bresciano squares up but is tackled as he shoots and the ball goes out for a corner.

13 mins: The crowd is cheering every Dutch error, and every Australian pass. Meantime, in Tamworth, Australia, Matt Crawford admits that "nerves, sleep deprivation and a curry supper = high risk viewing this morning".

11 min: Australia have started well, and they are quick to knock the ball long —along the deck mostly— for Leckie and Oar to chase. The Netherlands have not been allowed to get into any kind of rhythm.

7 min: Leckie, then Oar, give Cillessen something to think about. First Leckie hares after a through ball only for Cillessen to just beat him to it (wearing Leckie's knee in his back for his troubles). Then Oar swings one over from the left but Cillessen takes it easily over his head.

5 min: McKay turns his man nicely in midfield and for a second he must feel like the Prince of Porto Alegre. But his second touch is heavy and he's dispossessed, with Robben the beneficiary of a early ball up the left wing. But as Robben looks to cut inside near the Australia box he clumsily loses possession himself.

1 min: The Dutch allow Australia to get some early touches at the back without any impolite pressure. But this allows Davidson to knock it forward towards Cahill, and though it doesn't arrive on his scone Australia win a free kick from the ensuing loose ball. Bresciano takes it but goes nowhere. Or nowhere interesting.

And here they come, as SBS's commentators scratch about hopefully by figuring that the Netherlands have a tendency to drop against the lesser nations, while Australia usually raisetheir game against the top nations. Sounds like a draw, doesn't it?

Bart van Alphen thinks Australia has no chance. "As a preamble to the upcoming match, it might be worthwhile to note that at one time the Australian army brought machine guns to wage war on 20,000 emus and still lost. It is known as the Great Emu War."

Former Australia and AC Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac says on SBS's coverage that it will be suicide for Australia to press high in defence. The panel agrees, more or less. The plan? Hit 'em on the counter.

Brian Russell sees some Dutch in the Aussies, kind of: "I applaud the optimism and raging Aussie spunk of Jeremy Boyce and Johan van Slooten," he writes, "but all the facts points to a pretty comprehensive Dutch win today. The Roos are a team of lumpen cloggers, no? If they win then I will buy every reader of this MBM a drink (Note: offer not valid in southern hemisphere)."

So, the Netherlands unchanged from the side that trounced Spain, while for Australia Ryan McGowan is in for the injured Ivan Franjic, with Matt McKay replacing the injured Mark Milligan. One A-Leaguer for another.

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to slip one by Johan van Slooten. "True," he says, "the Dutch men’s team was slaughtered by the Australians over the weekend at the Hockey World Cup (held in the Netherlands). But you failed to mention that the Dutch women’s team beat Australia 2-0 in their final on Saturday. So we’re even, aren’t we? [Yes, we are.]

"Anyway, I think it’s going to be a tough game tonight, because that always happens with the Dutch: as soon as we expect ‘our’ team to have an easy win, everything always ends up in tears. So expect a soulless 0-0 or 1-1 draw."

A 1-1 draw for the Socceroos against the Netherlands could be one of the greatest results in their history! Where do they sign?

Australia's left back Jason Davidson pointed out this week, with some adroitness, that Dutch players only have two legs.

Along those lines, Jeremy Boyce, in France, says it's only 11 v 11 tonight and anything can happen. "i thought van Persie's equaliser against Taki-Tiki FC might well turn out to be a defining moment of this tourney," he writes, laughing in the face of capitalisation. "after all, we were all expecting a 1-0 passing exhibition right up until he launched himself at that ball. but, as the old cliche goes, it's only 11 against 11 on the pitch, and if they can do it Spain then anything is possible today isn't it? especially as the 'Roos are head-for-head surely the most sporty nation on the planet and consistently serve up top international performances despite their puny population stats. never underestimate a hurting and underestimated Digger. and let's not forget the other cliche, as Robin proved yet again the other evening, it only takes a second to score a goal, so i'm ROOting for the green and golds."

For those who don't know, since Guus Hiddink took the reins of the Socceroos ahead of the 2006 World Cup, Australia has largely adopted a Dutch footballing philosophy and, from the grassroots up, kids are being taught Cruyff turns and the like. They are also being taught how to do this (so look out for Australia in Qatar if it ever happens):

... the influence of the Dutch in Australian football goes back many decades. Immigrants from the Netherlands were among the first of those fleeing war-torn Europe to arrive in Australia, and by the mid 1950s it seemed every city in Australia had a club whose named evoked Holland. Wilhelmina were prominent for a time in Melbourne, Perth had (Morley) Windmills, and there was even the Hobart-based Hollandia. Meanwhile in Brisbane a club built by a hard-working group of migrants called Hollandia Inala laid the foundation for Australia’s most successful club of the 21st century. The side morphed into the National Soccer League’s Brisbane Lions with the licensed club the backer of the city’s lone representative when the A-League launched in 2005, the Brisbane Roar. Even now the orange shirt and lion-inscribed logo of the A-League’s reigning champions is – in a rare survivor of former FFA chief executive John O’Neill’s scorched earth policy – a nod to the club’s origins.

From hope to a kick in the pants: via AAP, some
encouraging
words from former Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek who was axed as Australia coach after the 2010 World Cup in which the Socceroos failed to progress past the first round.

“Speaking to Dutch media at the World Cup and transcribed for footballcentral.com.au, Verbeek shot down any chance of the Australians having an impact in the match. Asked who he thought would win, Verbeek said: ‘Oh, (Holland) will win this game, not a single doubt. I don't see any possibility that Australia will score a goal against the Netherlands.’

Verbeek said the Socceroos' defence was a major concern.

‘(Holland) should go for an extra attacker. We have to attack from the flanks, but also through the middle. (Australia are) so inexperienced at the back,’ he said.

‘They are very vulnerable at the back. So I think we'll score at least three goals.’

Australia's inexperience in defence ­—the back four against Chile in their World Cup opener had less that 40 national caps — has been exacerbated by the injury-induced withdrawal of Ivan Franjic.”

Preamble

The World Cup is a collection of mighty challenges and what a doozy lays ahead tonight! I mean, of course, that here on Australia’s east coast it’s approaching 1am, and we’ve got to find a way to stay awake in case the unlikely happens and the Socceroos can fashion a miracle result over the Netherlands at the Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre. I’m not much of a night owl, myself, so I’ve pondered everything from the obvious (coffee), to the sickening (Red Bull), to the presumably failsafe but somewhat off-putting (decanting a bottle of hot chilli sauce down my britches). But like many of you I’m hoping the game itself will do the job and keep my eyes open and the typos at
bat
bay.

As for the game… To be wildly optimistic —bordering on delusional, some might say— this could be the Socceroos’ greatest victory in history. Or at least its most heroic draw. Or maybe just it’s bravest loss (that’s a thing, right?). It was always going to be a big ask for the Socceroos to get something from a game against Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands from the moment that cruel draw came out. But to have to play Robert van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and co. when they have their tails up having just eviscerated the reigning World Cup holders 5-1, well, the task looks even greater.

That said, Australia are approaching this fixture with the kind of confidence you can only get after losing your opening group fixture by a smaller margin than most pundits predicted. Take that, naysayers! As the lowest ranked of the World Cup finalists (at 62), Australia was expected to get torn asunder by an attack-minded Chile, and for the first 16 minutes —during which Chile scored twice— it was all going according to the pessimists’ script. But a Tim Cahill header dragged Australia back into it and for the remainder of the match it could be reasonably argued that Australia had the better of play and should have equalised. But chances were missed, and Chile added a third at the death to make the score-line unreflective of the match.

So a loss, yes —and one meaning that Australia needs at least four points from its remaining matches against the Netherlands tonight, and Spain next week— but an encouraging result nonetheless. Certainly Ange Postecoglou and his young team took plenty of positives out of it, and, pleasing their nation’s football fans who would prefer to see them play attacking football, they’ve vowed to take the game to the Netherlands tonight. “We know we’ll have to be very strong defensively because the Dutch are very dangerous going forward and they proved that against Spain,” Postecolou said this week. “The other side of that is if we just try to defend for 90 minutes, there’s only going to be one result and that won’t be in our favour… It’s just as important that we’re dangerous when we have the ball.”

So what can Australia fans do but tune in tonight and hope for something truly remarkable? Didn’t Costa Rica upset Uruguay just days ago? The unexpected does happen in football, even at the highest level. But let’s be honest, we’ve all been around the block enough times to know that when a lady gives you that look —you know the one I’m talking about, right?!— she wants you to put out the bins and clear the gutters of leaves like you’ve been promising to do for six months. We’ve also been around the block enough times to know that pain and the Socceroos so often share a sentence. But what’s that they say? Expect the worst, hope for the best? Close enough.

Holland have a lovely problem on their hands. How on earth do you follow a 5-1 victory over Spain? Australia are about to find out, although even if Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie run riot against the Socceroos in Porto Alegre on Wednesday, it is hard to imagine Holland’s performance being talked about back home for a quarter of a century and more. Salvador, Friday 13 June 2014, was Dutch football’s JFK moment.

“It was an incredible result against Spain, you must see it as a wonder, in the same way as the goal that Marco van Basten scored in the European Championships in 1988,” says René van der Gijp, a former Holland winger who played alongside Louis van Gaal for Sparta Rotterdam and now works as a television pundit in the Netherlands.

“In terms of Van Persie and Robben, if you add [Wesley] Sneijder to that, it’s a pretty impressive front half for any team,” Postecoglou said. “We know it’s a challenge, we faced up to [Arturo] Vidal and [Alexis] Sánchez against Chile, so most countries have got some world-class forwards to contend with. But it’s just as important that we try and hurt Holland the other way.

“I think anyone who watched the game against Spain, if Spain had gone 2-0 up, they probably would have gone on to win the game. So sometimes the scoreline doesn’t reflect the game.”